• In local spacetime news, NASA’a attempt to throw one of its toys at the Moon was successful, though perhaps not so much as a PR event. Fortunately for astro-enthusiasts, the visual dud, which thousands around the globe stayed up late or got up early to futilely observe, followed hot on the heels of a Presidential endorsement of science and astronomy at the White House — all of which is occurring around the anniversary of 50 years of human space exploration.
• Looking at a somewhat bigger picture, The late Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking wax poetic in auto-tuned elegance in celebration of the wonders of the Universe…

• Taking in a still bigger perspective, it’s looking like the Universe as a whole may die sooner than previously expected — eaten up by super-massive, galaxy-consuming black holes.
• Nothing new to report about time. It continues its slow and unrelenting march.

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About the author

Bill Simmon
Bill Simmon is a filmmaker, writer and media educator in Burlington, VT. His particular interests include film, atheism, free speech, science fiction, astronomy and the social effects of the democratization of media and technology. Bill is the author of the award-winning blog, Candleblog.

3 Comments for Spacetime Report

Lauren

Define successful.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/nasa_smashes_space_probe_into_moon

Bill Simmon

eh, I don’t really need to define successful, because the words “was successful” hyperlink to a Discover article that defines it for me. That’s why the link is there. Quoting from the linked site:

Before plunging into the crater, LCROSS’s infrared sensors detected some temperature variations from the crater, as well as changes in the spectra, a chemical breakdown of the reflected light.

While visually the impact, which was streamed live on the Internet, was a bust, Colaprete said, “We got the spectroscopic data and that’s what really matters.”

So, just to be perfectly clear, science: success. PR event for NASA: not success. Since the primary reason for the mission was to search for quantities of water in the lunar crust and not, as some news outlets made it seem, to make a pretty plume of dirt visible from Earth, I think I’m being pretty fair in my estimation.